In my attempt to become more physically active this year and try something new, I found myself curious to adventure out into the “exercise class” realm of the fitness world. Historically, I have always been a very strong person, weight lifting and cardio training on a machine has always come fairly easy. I can maneuver through a gym and get my routine done pretty easily. But needless to say, I am not the most coordinated person, I could never visualize myself taking a class where following a routine was required.
For the longest time I have wanted to try a Zumba class, but the fear of other’s judgment has held me back. In my strive to be perfect, it was hard for me to imagine not being good at something. I could just imagine myself surrounded by a group of women who can seamlessly follow the direction of the instructor and dance their hearts out for an hour. Not to mention, the room is encased in mirrors, adding to my fear of seeing myself look ridiculous.
Last week I made the call to a local fitness studio to inquire about their classes, I spoke with the owner and told her how I had wanted to join for a while now, but hadn’t come around to it. Her immediate response was “what’s taken you so long, get your butt in here”! It didn’t take long to persuade me, and the next day there I was.
I have to admit, I did think about chickening out at least a dozen times, but I pushed myself to move past my fear and go to the class. It is easier said than done, but we should not allow ourselves to miss out on life’s great opportunities because of fear, especially fear around the perceived thoughts of others. My fear of not being perfect and that everyone in the class would laugh at me almost prevented me from enjoying myself.
Although the class was hard and I was behind on almost every step, I wasn’t the only person. Looking around, the majority of the women were not the Britney Spears backup dancers I had imagined. We were all there for the sole purpose, to dance, have fun, and burn some calories.
The moral of this story is, we all have things we are afraid of but every once in a while we have to push past the fear to give things a chance. Maybe it works out, maybe it doesn’t but at least we would know for a fact instead of imagining a scenario in our heads.
Is there anything that you have wanted to do, or try, or ask, but have been held back because of fear? How do you plan to move past it?
